Guilt of Innocence

By

Chosha Kurenai

Important Note:

This is the unbeta'd version of the chapter. Once Beta'd, the chapter will be replaced by the Beta'd version. If the chapter has been edited by a Beta, there will be a note proclaiming it Beta'd and who by in replacement of this notice.

Also, I'm sad because due to my laptop breaking, I lost all my info! Again! Thus I've had to write this chapter from scratch. Twice!

Summery:

It is well known that Sasuke abandoned Konoha in his pursuit of power to join Orochimaru. However, this was only a cover story. In fact, Sasuke went there on Tsunade's orders to act as Konoha's informant within Otogakure. One agreement and his path had changed forever…

Disclaimer:

I, Chosha Kurenai, hereby swear that ownership of Naruto and its entire relating media belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Guilt of innocence is fan fiction only and is written purely for entertainment and not meant as infringement of any rights belonging to the neither artist nor companies who created them. Please support the official anime/manga releases.

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Chapter Fourteen

The Truth of Innocence

It felt so long since Sasuke had spoken as much as he had done that night. Though it was probably not as much as most people would talk on normal days, it definitely surpassed his normal day's unspoken word limit tenfold. For the first time in years, sitting in that small room with Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke was able to relax a little, not needing to worry that he might be seen by Kabuto or caught off guard by Orochimaru. They spoke long into the night, catching up on what they had missed, but Naruto and Sakura seemingly desperate to learn of their real friend and team mate and not the Sasuke from the false information they had learned about him for the last three years, while Sasuke himself was content to let their voices drift over him, listening to their banter that, far from annoying him like it used to, merely filled him with a strange sense of nostalgia. It was strange how the three years separate from them somehow made the most annoying things about them actually comforted him.

I guess I missed them more than I thought I would, he couldn't help but muse as he watched Sakura lightly punch Naruto on the arm for a blunt, but very Naruto, comment that the blond boy made, feeling an almost smile tug on the corner of his lips.

By the time that they had finally finished, throats sore from talking and energy spent, light was already starting to appear on the horizon outside. Sasuke, sitting crossed legged on the bed, back resting against the cool wall, couldn't help but look over to his recently reunited team mates. Sakura sat primly on the chair that she had drawn up once they had settled down to talk. Though she had dark smudges under her eyes from the sleepless night, her expression was thoughtful, occasionally glancing in his direction as if reminding herself this was no dream and that Sasuke had indeed returned to them. Naruto, by contrast, was sprawled on his back taking up the majority of the rest of the bed, eyes half closed and seemed to be comfortable despite his still bandaged arm, obviously overjoyed that things had turned out far better than how he had thought, content enough for once to remain quiet (for once), probably absorbing everything that he had learned.

So it was quite a surprise when the comfortable silence that had fallen over them was broken, not by the resident 'loud-mouthed, knuckle-headed ninja', but by Sakura.

"So, how long do you think it'll take," she asked slowly, green eyes frowning faintly at her hands that were lying in her lap, "before you'll be allowed to come back into the village properly?"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked, glancing over at Sakura, surprise written over his face. "What do you mean? He's right here, isn't he?"

"Not officially," Sasuke explained, leaning his head back against the wall and looking at the ceiling. "Everyone still thinks I betrayed the village, remember? If I came back into public view before there's an official statement from the Hokage, I'd be treated as a Nuke-ninja. And we've already seen that the elders, or at least Danzo, are more than happy to remove any 'threats' without consulting Tsunade first. So, until they can be convinced, no one's to know I'm here outside of us, Tsunade, Jiraiya and Kakashi." He looked at the blond ninja out of the corner of his eye, a semi-amused smirk. "Shouldn't you know this kind of stuff if you want to be Hokage, idiot?"

"I so too knew that you Bastard!" Naruto protested, flustered before flipping over and resting his whisker-marked cheeks on his hand, resting the bandaged one on the bed and Sasuke had the thought that Naruto would have been drumming his fingers if the bandage hadn't been restricting the movements. "But that sucks, 'ttebayo. I mean, you spent years spying on that Snake-face. Hell, you even killed the bastard and they're treating you like…like…"

"A Nuke-ninja?" Sasuke suggested dryly.

"Exactly!" Naruto exclaimed. "You kicked his butt! Heh, maybe I'll ask Ero-sannin to write a book about it. Sasuke the Snake slayer!"

Said 'Snake Slayer' raised his eyebrow at that, wondering who this person was and what they'd done to the real Naruto, but Sakura just laughed, leaning forwards a little, amusement dancing in her eyes, "That's unlike you," she teased the blond ninja. "I would've thought you'd get jealous if Sasuke-kun became a famous hero or something like you used to."

"Phf, no way, no way," Naruto snorted, closing his eyes and waving a hand. "Why would I get jealous of Sasuke? I feel sorry for him, having to spend three years with that snake-bastard molesting him-"

Sasuke choked on air at that, smacking his head back against the wall harshly in shock as he whipped around to stare at Naruto incredulously. "He did not molest me!" he protested, mortified at the mere thought of Orochimaru doing such a thing. "Idiot."

"But he kept saying 'I want your body, Sasuke-kun'," Naruto shot back, mimicking Orochimaru's voice horribly. "If that doesn't sound fruity I don't know what does-ow! Sakura-chaaaaan!" Naruto yelped, covering his head with his hands to try and escape the wrath of Sakura's fist that had crashed on his head, looking as mortified as Sasuke felt.

Sasuke felt his eyebrow ticking. Why had he missed this moron again? "He was only saying that because he wanted me to be his next host and…" he stopped himself before he descended any further into Naruto's brand of madness and snorted, shaking his head. "You know what? Forget it. Moronic idiot."

"You've been spending far too much time around Jiraiya," Sakura scolded. "You're turning into a complete pervert."

"You're mean, Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, rubbing the bump on his head. "I'm not a pervert. At least I don't get all mushy over the Oiroke: Otoko-Mph!"

Sakura, eyes wide, jumped up, practically knocking over her chair as she did so to clamp her hand over Naruto's mouth with a speed that almost put Sasuke's to shame and Sasuke raised an eyebrow as she laughed nervously. "Ah, look at the time, we really need to get going now, otherwise people might wonder where we've been and we don't want to put Sasuke-kun at risk," she babbled, ignoring Naruto who was waving his arms around, almost turning blue from lack of air.

Covering his mouth, Sasuke coughed politely, glancing at Naruto pointedly. Still, he was unsure if he was interested in what Naruto was going to say or wary that it was going to be something that would just scar him further for life. He was a little curious to see what had the older Sakura so flustered, but since this was something involving Naruto's 'Sexy jutsu'…..maybe he really didn't want to know.

Following Sasuke gaze, Sakura seemed to realise that Naruto couldn't breath and quickly whipped her hand away, letting Naruto finally gasp for air while she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, her cheeks the same colour as her hair. "Eh heh….sorry Naruto…." She said weakly, before coughing and turning her attention back to Sasuke. "Anyway, we really do have to go, especially since you're still in hiding and all. We'll come back and visit though. You should get some rest. You look exhausted, Sasuke-kun. Come on Naruto," she added to the blond ninja as she heared him out towards the door.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto stopped before he left the room and, once he caught Sasuke's eye grinned. "Glad you're back, bastard," he added before hurrying out of the room again, leaving Sasuke alone once more.

Sasuke snorted, shaking his head. It seemed no mater how much time they were apart, or how much they had all grown, they were still the same. Sakura was Sakura, and Naruto was still Naruto. "Idiot…"

For some reason, his heart felt lighter.

Flopping unceremoniously to the bed, staring up at the ceiling for a long moment, he sighed, exhausted. It had been a long night and there was still going to be a lot of work to do before everything was back to normal. But for a few hours at least he could sleep, especially since he needed all his energy if he was going to be dealing with the Elders soon as well. That in mind, Sasuke rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

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Despite the late night, the long reunion and conversations afterwards and having slept in the deepest sleep that he could remember having for the longest time, Sasuke still woke up early, the sun having only been up a couple of hours. He blamed his messed up sleeping patterns on having spent so long underground that his body clock had long since become haphazard. Still, he was used to the minimal amount of sleep to function, so he didn't think it mattered much.

Still, it was probably a good job that he had woken up when he had. He had only just finished getting ready when he was summoned to the Hokage's office by an irritable Tsunade. Wondering just what had her so annoyed now, Sasuke quickly donned the ANBU mask and coat and strode off to the office. When he had finally got there, he found Tsunade sitting at her desk, rifling through some papers in a folder, a little blak book at the side. Seeing him enter and close the door being him, Tsunade snapped the folder shut, her golden eyes fixing onto the masked Uchiha.

"Hawk," she greeted, going straight to business. "I've managed to arrange a meeting with the elders about the Oto mission and your innocence. However, I want you to come along with me. I think it would be better for you to see what kind of situation you're in first hand, but also," she added, steepling her fingers and looking over at him seriously. "You've spent the last three years as a Spy in Oto, so you've likely grown used to looking for things that others might not spot. I want you to keep an eye on Danzo. How he might react to things during the meeting, anything you might find strange. After the business with him actually making a deal with Orochimaru and putting the identities of ANBU at risk, I'm not sure I can even trust that he doesn't have some other scemes in the wings. I'm sorry to have to put this up on you. However…."

"It fine," Sasuke interrupted. He didn't need her to tiptoe around him or whatever. He would soon get stir-crazy if he was forced to just stay put and only guess what was happening.

"Good," Tsunade nodded, approving. "As it is actually rules to have ANBU present as a witness in such matters, the elders shouldn't question your presence, so," she picked up the folders and the little book and dropped them into Sasuke's hands with a quirk of her lips. "You shall be acting as my assistant this morning."

Sasuke couldn't help but scowl slightly, but she wouldn't be able to see it through the blank stare of the porcelain mask. She was enjoying this, wasn't she? Still, she was lucky she was the Hokage, otherwise Sasuke would have just dropped the papers and walked off. He was no Pack Horse after all. But he was curious about what was going to occur, as strange as it would be to hear people talking about him while he was standing directly in the room. So he could swallow his pride for now at being reduced from 'Sasuke the snake slayer', to use Naruto's words, to 'Sasuke the office assistant'. He just hoped that there was going to be favourable results otherwise he was going to be highly irritated.

Eyebrow ticking faintly behind his mask, Sasuke followed behind Tsunade like a good little assistant as they made their way towards the meeting room that the Elders favoured. It was normally off limits unless one was called to a meeting. Sasuke himself had never actually been there. Then again, he had only been a genin before he had left Konoha, and had never done anything to really get their attention prior to the mission. Of course, he hadn't been caught and taken to the elders during the mission either, so this would be the first time he had actually ever needed to go into the office at all.

With a short knock, Tsunade had entered the room and Sasuke followed behind her. It wasn't that impressive of a room. A low table and the elders were sitting on the cushions that were around it. There were three elders in total, two men and a woman, all around the same age that the Sandaime Hokage had been. The only woman in the group had to be Utatane Koharu who was sitting to the left of the two men. Her grey hair was pulled up into a tight top-knot that was held together by decorative pins. Her face was that of a woman who might have been pretty in her youth, but age seemed to have given it a somewhat sour expression, her face marked by wrinkles and her lips seemed to be set thinly in a downward turn.

The first of the two men that was sitting to the far right had grey hair and beard, oval glasses resting on a face that was marked by deep worry marks on his forehead and around his mouth, his face somewhat stern, something that Sasuke had already noted to be a common theme amongst the elders and he had to wonder how Naruto would handle dealing with people like that if he ever became Hokage. Somehow, though, he didn't get the feeling that he was the kind to be the soul cause of Tsunade's immense irritation. So this Elder had to be Mitokado Homura then.

Which meant that the man sitting in the middle had to be Shimura Danzo himself. Unlike the other two, Sasuke got a sense of a hardened warrior from this man. Perhaps it was the bandages that covered his right eye, or the scar on his face (a X shape that marked his chin), or the arm that was held in his robes like a sling, but Sasuke didn't think that was what was causing the feeling of 'fighter' in Sasuke. There was just something about him that made him feel as if he was looking at Orochimaru. That was, that he really shouldn't turn his back on this man. Perhaps it was just all the rumors that he had heard about Danzo prior to meeting him in the first place, all the trouble he seemed to cause Tsunade and the fact that he had tried to have Sasuke himself assassinated, but he just felt that there was something….wrong with this guy. Even if Tsunade hadn't asked him to keep an eye on him, Sasuke probably would be doing that anyway. He kept silent however, giving a faint, silent bow to the elders before standing silently at Tsunade's side. There was no need to draw unwanted attention to himself by not showing 'respect' to the village Elders, especially since he was trying to keep his cover after all. Still, he allowed his Sharingan to come to life in his eyes, however, hidden by his hawk like mask. Hopefully, he should be able to pick up any minimal movements in the elders. Their body languages, after all, may reveal more than their words.

"Tsunade," Danzo said, not using any kind of honorific, almost as if talking to a petulant child rather than the village leader. "What is it you wanted?"

"I have an issue I wish to raise with the Council," Tsunade said with surprising professional coolness that Sasuke mentally applauded. Her eyes were hard as steel. "Firstly something I wish to raise with you, Danzo, concerning the orders that were given on a mission with Team Seven," she reached to Sasuke palm up. "The book please," she said, indicating the book that she had given to him to hold before. Inclining his head as per unspoken rules, he passed the book to Tsunade, who held it up to the elders. Danzo's visible eye tightened slightly – did he recognise it? Tsunade ignored it for a moment as she flipped through the pages and slapped it down on the table.

Sasuke's eyes behind his mask widened ever so slightly as he found himself staring down at a picture of his twelve year old self staring back up at him. It was a Photo he distinctly recognised as a slightly larger version of the photo of himself from his ninja licence when he had finished the Academy. On the opposite page was a photo that he didn't recognise, a large ink cross marking the entire thing. His heart pounded faster. A Bingo Book? He was in a Bingo Book?

Well, he thought as he crossed his arms, watching the minute expressions flickering across Danzo's face. As surprising as it is to consider myself to be infamous enough to become a target to be struck down by Oinin, it makes enough sense, what with Danzo having ordered my death before, if what Sai had said was correct. Still, this feels a bit surreal.

"Tell me," Tsunade said darkly, slapping her hands against the table, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Who gave you the authorisation to have Uchiha Sasuke marked for Assassination?"

Silence reigned for a moment, heavy and Sasuke could practically hear every shift of cloth or drawing of breath, so much so that even he had to remind himself to breath. After what seemed like an eternity (though in reality it was mere seconds), Danzo moved, reaching over with his unbound hand and picked it up slowly, his uncovered eye looking at the picture with an unreadable gaze.

"Uchiha Sasuke is a Nuke-ninja," Danzo said after a moment, his tone calm and cold and he put the book down once more, his face an unmoving mask. "It matters not how young he is. He has joined Orochimaru. It's obvious that he must have followed in the footsteps of Uchiha Itachi-"

Sasuke bit back a snarl, his fingers digging into his arm and it took all his control not to snap at him right then and there. I am Nothing like Itachi!

"-And Uchiha Itachi has already proven many a time what a danger he could be. After all, he was merely 13 when he obliterated the Uchiha Clan, Age means nothing to the Uchiha. I was merely preventing a major threat to the Village. Such softness is unbecoming of a leader of this village, Tsunade. If the threats are not eliminated, it would merely cause more trouble for the village in the future."

"This has nothing to do with Uchiha Itachi," Tsunade snapped. "Such actions need the approval of the Hokage before they should be put into affect. As a senior member of this village, you should be aware that some S-classed missions are performed in complete secrecy and to avoid the assassination of our own agents while on duty undercover the Hokage must approve of the actions!"

"…What are you trying to say?" Koharu asked slowly, the deep wrinkles becoming more pronounced as she frowned.

"Are you saying that Uchiha Sasuke has been operating in an S-classed mission for the last three years?" Homura added incredulously.

"That is precisely what I'm Saying," Tsunade snapped.

"Impossible," Danzo scoffed. "He is but a genin when he went to join Orochimaru. How would he have been of any use?"

"Exactly," Koharu said, her face frowning further. "He is a mere child, not even more than a Genin. Hardly a suitable candidate for such a mission."

Tsunade stood up again, crossing his arms as she tilted her head up, annoyed. "He is old enough to be counted as a threat to be written into the Bingo book, but not old enough to be sent on such a mission? You contradict yourself, Danzo. It's like you said before. Age doesn't matter, as you should know from the training of Root that was disbanded," her tone dripped with suspicion and Sasuke had to wonder whether or not this was true. "Uchiha Sasuke was secretly made into an ANBU. As you know, ANBU can be of any rank. It has no bearing upon becoming ANBU, only that the Hokage themselves appoints them to the rank. And for the sake of missions the identity of the ANBU in question should be known only to the Hokage and whomever the Hokage chooses to reveal it to. In this case, Uchiha Sasuke had a very important role. Orochimaru, as you all know, had coveted the Sharingan for a long time and had already marked him to join him with the cursed seal. Blinded by his ambitions and apparent successes, he would have no notion of where Sasuke's true loyalties lay beyond whatever he portrayed. If we gave a show to him that all was going as the old Snake planned. And Uchiha delivered very well indeed.

"Orochimaru had been a threat for long enough, responsible for human experimentation upon innocent civilians of this village that we are sworn to protect, the deaths of many children due to these heinous experiments and he had been allowed to get away with it. Not to mention the attack on the village itself three years ago and the driving force behind the death of the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi-sensei. Again, something that he was allowed to get away with yet again. There was nothing suggesting that he wouldn't try such tactics again. Such a threat, as you say, was not to be permitted to remain unheeded for much longer without it coming back to bite back when we least expect it again. So, in my duty as a Hokage, I personally sent Uchiha Sasuke to Orochimaru as a spy, and told him to begin an act that would convince Orochimaru that he had no ties to the village. Not only would it help Orochimaru to drop his guard, but also to prevent Uchiha from being found out. And he performed beautifully, enabling us to have a spy within Orochimaru's ranks and thus why we have been able to counter many of Orochimaru's moves as we have through the past three years.

"Have you forgotten that Orochimaru was a Sannin along with Jiraiya and myself?" she added, leaning her hands against the table as she stared them down, somehow making the elders seem like academy students being scolded and Sasuke silently cheered her on. After all, they tried to have him killed and had also compared him to Itachi, of course he was completely up for this retribution. "Because of that we are well aware of what he is, or rather was, capable of. Had I sent anyone but the Uchiha amongst Orochimaru's ranks, I would have been sending them to there deaths. Sasuke was the only one who stood a chance to gather intelligence and to help counter any threats before they materialised." Her lips quirked up in a vicious smile. "And it worked. This 'boy', a 'mere Genin'," she mocked Koharu and Danzo's references to Sasuke venomously, "has done something that you have all left loose for far too long. The threat is now neutralised. Orochimaru is dead."

"Do you have Proof of this?" Homura asked, "Of Uchiha Sasuke's mission and Orochimaru's termination?"

"Hawk," Tsunade said, holding out her hand again, motioning for the folder in Sasuke's arms, which he passed over like the good ANBU that he was meant to be. Quickly she paced it down on the table. Biting her thumb, she formed some seals and swiped the blood on the symbol written on the folder, jolting chakra through it, unlocking the seal on the folder. "This should cover that," she said, flipping the folder open and pulling the pages out from inside. Danzo took the pages reluctantly and the elders began to pore over the documents, frowns marrying their faces.

It was almost nostalgic, looking over those papers. Some of the papers seemed to be copies of Sasuke's various reports on Orochimaru's movements, though it seemed to minus any of the more confidential conversations between himself and the Hokage, thankfully. Lying on top of them was a contract that certainly brought back memories. After Sasuke had agreed to take on the mission in the first place, with Kakashi as their witness, Sasuke had signed away his freedom for those three years to act as a Spy within Orochimaru's ranks. It was strange to see them once more, the slightly childish hand that he still retained as a pre-teen, but still it was distinctly the Kanji and Katakana of his signature, the words 'Uchiha Sasuke' standing out under the agreement.

He glanced back up at the Elders to see how they were taking it and frowned slightly. They were acting strangely, shooting awkward glances at each other that he might have missed if he wasn't specifically looking for some kind of reaction and used to people who were good at hiding things, such as Kabuto and Orochimaru, both masters at such emotional manipulations. Danzo's expression was hard, almost looking ready to tear the paper to bits if it weren't for the fact there was a witness on Tsunade's side – namely himself. Koharu's lips were pursed, Homura's frown was creasing his forehead making the wrinkles there much more pronounced. Danzo seemed to be muttering something to himself.

'Uchiha' and 'Again?' was the only word Sasuke could read on Danzo's lips, but it was enough to make his eyebrow raise slightly behind his mask. 'Again'? What did he mean by that? What about the Uchiha? He hoped to see more, but unfortunately it seemed that Danzo noticed his own break in composure and controlled himself into unreadable stoicism once more, much to Sasuke's irritation. Still, why did Sasuke feel he was missing something here?

"So, Uchiha Sasuke was responsible for the death of Orochimaru then," Danzo stated finally, placing the papers back onto the table

"Indeed," Tsunade said coldly. "So now that the mission is finally over, his innocence it to be announced. I forbid any more attempts on Uchiha's life because of your Misconduct, Danzo. Recall these," she added, slamming her hand over the black book where pre-teen Sasuke's picture stared up blankly at them. "Before his return. If not there will be consequences. That is an order."

Danzo, Sasuke was sure, seemed ready to strike out almost. His lips twitched slightly, the lines around his eyes hardening. His free hand clenched slightly on his lap, giving Sasuke little doubt of what he was imagining. However, he didn't lash out, instead inclining his head in acknowledgement, grim-faced. "Of course. Forgive my….mistake," he said, though to Sasuke he was sure that the last word was rather sour.

"Be sure it doesn't happen again," she said, snatching up the book and documents once more and, turning on her heel stalked from the room, her Haori billowing behind her. Quickly, Sasuke gave a stiff bow to the elders, at least to keep up the pretence that he was not Uchiha Sasuke, but an unknown ANBU of hers, and quickly retreated from the room before the Elders could question him also.

As they headed back to Tsunade's office, Sasuke couldn't help but frown ever so slightly, thoughtfully. He had managed to pick up a few things that hadn't really been said either. 'Again'. Why would he refer to Sasuke's situation like it had occurred before? Now, Sasuke was proud, but his ego wasn't that big that he thought it had never happened before to any other kind of Ninja. But there just seemed to be something that suggested it was something important, something important that they seemed to not want the Hokage to know. And it seemed to link with the Uchiha clan. What exactly did they mean by that?

As they entered the office again, and Tsunade groaned slightly as she flopped down into her chair behind her desk, "Ugh…." She sighed, kneading her temples with her fingers. "This is why I hate dealing with Danzo," she grumbled. "However, at least it went favourably. We should be able to finish the last preparations of your return." She sat up a bit more, crossing her arms on the desk. "But enough of that, I want to know of your observations of the meeting."

"He's hiding something," Sasuke moved the mask from his face, letting it rest at the side of his head. He frowned, crossing his arms. "It seems like this isn't something new….What would the Uchiha have to do with anything?" Honestly, he'd love to know. There were a lot of secrets in the Uchiha's past, some he had to actively look for when he was younger, but he was sure there were still things he didn't know. After all, he had still been only six years old when the clan had been killed, not yet classed as a 'grown man' in the clan to learn of all the clan secrets. I don't know, Sasuke thought, frown deepening, Maybe I'm over thinking things….It might be something that has nothing to do with the Uchiha other than an Uchiha had done an undercover mission, but….I don't know…. "They seemed to be reacting strangely, almost guilty. It might have nothing to do with anything though," he added. No need to jump to conclusions, after all.

"Hm…." Tsunade frowned slightly. "Normally just missions would be informed to the next Hokage if the former one is killed or steps down if it's still on going. I'll have to look into that, just in case Danzo has been pulling other things behind the scenes. For now though," she added, giving him a faint smile over her entwined fingers, "We can work on getting you back into society once more. This won't mean that you can stop ANBU activities, however, as you are still an ANBU officially. We'll have someone to help you learn all that you need to know about the rank during the next few days while we're dealing with your return. You'll be home properly soon enough."

Sasuke nodded, sighing. He hoped so. To be honest, he'd had enough of spying, lies and conspiracies for now. He almost longed for things to get back to some kind of normality, at least for a while. Still, what he'd picked up from Danzo bothered him somewhat. But for now, until he really learned more about it, he could just take it as being a simple reference to another undercover mission from the past. The Uchiha were all dead apart from his thrice accursed brother and himself anyway, so it probably had nothing to do with him anyway.

"I'll have a look through the ANBU that might be best and trusted to work with you about your Official ANBU rank," Tsunade said, interrupting his thoughts. "Until then, relax a little and get to know the village again. You deserve some R and R, after everything."

"Hn," the Uchiha nodded. Rest sounded good.

To Be Continued…

Japanese Translations:

(If there are words used that don't appear here, the word has been translated in previous chapters)

'ttebayo – a suffix that Naruto tags onto his sentences, that in the anime is translated as 'Believe it', though on Naruto Wiki actually said it'd also translate you 'You know'.

Oiroke: Otokonoko Dōshi no Jutsu – Sexy: boy on boy Technique – this is a Jutsu that Naruto only mentioned here, but was cut off half way through. It was the Jutsu that Konohamaru created as an off shoot from Naruto's various 'Sexy jutsus' and used in the Manga (chapter 347), but was taken out of the anime, probably because of the Yaoi themes. The reference was made because of the part of the manga that occurred before Naruto and Sakura reunited. As funny as it was, Guilt of Innocence is mainly a Sasuke Centric story. If you want to know what happened, I'd read chapter 347. Surfice to say, it made Sakura react, much to Naruto and Konohamaru's horror, since The 'henge' had involved a show of Sasuke and Sai. In the English version, the manga silhouettes the pictures, but it is still pointed out by Sai as to who Konohamaru transformed into.

Haori – a kind of Jacket – pretty much the one that Tsunade wears on a regular basis over her normal clothes.

Chosha's Notes:

I just wanted to say right now that I'm really sorry for the slow update. I had this chapter almost finished a while ago, but then my computer crashed and whipped out all the memory on the Laptop, including that of this chapter. I was really put out as I think the jokes in the first version were probably better, but I digress.

I was going to have the announcement of Sasuke's innocence here too, but….well the chapter would have been too long. And you've been patient with me for long enough, so I hope that you're happy with the chapter I've done.

Anyway, not much seemed to take place in this chapter, but its mainly a transition chapter, beginning to finish off the Oto/spy arc, wrapping up things before we move onto the Akatsuki arcs, while setting up for a few things that may become important later. Yes, There was a plan here. It's a bit vague, but there is a semi plan. Next chapter we get into Sasuke's proper return to society, and we start to work into what is the next big part of the story since Orochimaru is 'finished with'. Those who have asked me if members of Hebi/Taka will be involved should be happy as they'll begin to make appearances. I decided that I would bring them into the story, if only because I think seeing how Sakura and Naruto would react to the other members would be amusing.

Remember to tell me if you can think of any plot points you would like to come into the story. To be honest, the further along we go, the more help I'll need as I've not kept up with the series since Sasuke went completely loopy and lots of my favourite characters got killed off, so, happily, this means much deviation when we get to a certain point. As said many times before, I want to let Sasuke grow as a character. Not to say I'm going to keep him as a perfect person, because he wont be, because Sasuke is not a perfect character. But he won't be completely uncontrollably insane by the end of the story either.

Anyway, please Review! And thank you so much guys for being patient with me.

Next time on Guilt of Innocence:

Sasuke: The time's come. With the mission revealed, there will be much to do to return to the way things were, if that can ever be.

Naruto: Next Episode: Return to Life: Innocence Revealed

Sasuke: Its finally over. Life can begin again, for a while.

Until Next Time,

Ja ne!

Chosha Kurenai xXx